The Butterfly Effect
by Nemesis13
Summary: What happens when Lelouch is kept from interfering at Shinjiku? There is no Zero, there is no Black Knights, there is only Clovis to hold off the Chinese Federation and he is not enough. Now the exiled prince has to protect those he loves without any powers as Area Eleven collapses, and the world is about to realize how unmatched they truly are to a furious genius.-A Plot bunny
1. Chapter 1

Lelouch Lamperouge rubbed his eyes in annoyance as he was cornered by the bane of his existence, which he had to admit wasn't the worst bane in the world, Milly was at least nice to look at despite her domineering personality.

"Now I know you wanted to go gambling with Rivalz today Lulu but we really need this budget balanced, if you can get through it I'll take you out tonight, what do you say?" Lelouch stared at the blonde incredulously for a moment, he completed the image by raising a single eyebrow which had the buxom class president giggling into her hand.

"I say what do I get out of this Milly? You've taken me on more then a few 'dates' that result in me buying your dinner and coming home empty handed," much to his complete and utter lack of surprise the blonde woman bent down touching noses as she caressed his chest.

"Why Lulu, whatever do you mean?" Resisting the urge to push her away as was his wont he decided to take a page out of the menaces own book and grinned in return.

"I mean," he began in a husky whisper, "what's in it for me?" Lunging forward he caught her lips in a kiss as his hands flew up her skirt gripping her arse firmly, Milly for her part only moaned as she locked her legs around his waist pinning him to the wall. They snogged and groped for a few minutes before breaking for air, blushing heavily the panting young woman grinned victoriously.

"I finally broke you oh Prince of mine."

Lelouch snorted as he cupped her cheek, "Oh shut up and kiss me," grinning the blonde did just that, an hour later the couple lay naked between sweat soaked sheets having no idea of the horrors that had transpired in Shinjuku, or the repercussions that would come.

 _ **Two months later**_

Lelouch woke up to his girlfriends frantic phone call not at all in any rush to listen to the blondes melodramatics; yes he cared for her, hell at this point he could honestly say he loved her but she had a habit of being quite the annoyance.

Grimacing as he swore off drinking with Rivalz ever again he flipped his phone open and groaned out a greeting, "Hello Milly wha-" she cut him off with a frantic shriek.

"Shut up and turn on the TV, now vi Britannia!" His eyes widened in horror as she spouted out his true family name, she would never do that if...oh fuck, pulling on a shirt he rushed into the living room turning the television on.

"-firmed reports that the Chinese Federation has in fact invaded Area Eleven and has systematically taken over half of the territory in a shocking surprise attack. All citizens are recommended to fall back to government agency buildings in preperation for immediate evacuation to the mainland. I repeat-" Lelouch turned from the TV and frantically spoke to his girlfriend,

"Millicent are you near Ruben?" Her reply sounded so tiny and scared, it infuriated Lelouch beyond words, how dare these bastards scare such a loving heart as hers to the point of becoming timid!?

"Ye-yes, he's already evacuated a large portion of the school, I just found out about the broadcast myself, there's only a dozen studens left but the bridge to the airport has been destroyed." Lelouch grimaced at that, the airport was actually a man made island and if the road was taken out that meant the only way to reach it was by boat, and with the entire invasion thing it was likely anything bigger then a jetski was going to get torpedoed.

Racking his brain he glanced out the window and blanched as he saw a home brew variant of the Glasgow open fire on a series of shops slaughtering everyone in a spray of 20mm shells, if only he had a knightmare if... Pausing he grinned viciously as a plan began forming, it was insane but hey, who was he to judge his own sanity?

"Milly, love, is the Ganymede still in the hanger?" She remained silent a moment then he heard a conversation between her and an obviously older male.

Eventually she responded, "Yes, grandfather has been tinkering with it for years, installed a Yggdrasil drive and a few integrated weapons, why?"

Smirking Lelouch walked towards Nunnally's room, "Because I'm going to escort you and the others to the Viceroy's Palace and get you off this godforsaken island, tell Ruben to spin up the drive, we leave in fifteen."

Snapping the phone shut Lelouch gently tapped on the door then opened it slowly, "Sayoko," he began as the maid looked up from applying Nunnally's medications. "The Chinese have come to liberate the islands, although it's more likely then not going to be a 'Meet the new boss just like the old boss' scenario, will you help me get Nunnally to safety?" The young teen in question whimpered a bit as she called out,

"Brother? What's going on?" Smiling sadly he took her free hand as he turned to the Japanese woman, she looked at the siblings a moment then nodded slowly as she came to a decision.

"I will protect you my Prince," Lelouch was more then a little startled at that but the maid only shook her head slowly in return. "I've known all along, my family has been the sworn protectors to the Ashfords for a few generations so it should be no surprise. What shall you have me do?"

Thinking about it a moment he smirked slyly, "You able to handle an anti-tank missile launcher from a moving bus?"

She grinned in return forcing the exiled prince to choke down his laughter, "Chinese or Britannian? Or better yet European, those are my favorite," Lelouch let a laugh out at this, it was good to be surrounded by like minded people.

Nunnally turned towards him and her sadness permeated the room, "Lelouch, I don't want you to do anything that will get you hurt," smiling sadly he leaned down kissed her forehead and paused only a moment as she snaked her arms around his neck pulling him into a tight hug.

"My little angel, I will become the devil himself to keep you safe, you are my first and foremost priority and I will burn the world before I let anything happen to you. Yes, I may die in the process, but I will leave behind a world worthy of you in the end, that won't be today though, I promise." Nunnally began sobbing and broke the hug, much to his shock her eyelids snapped open and he found himself staring into a pair of violet eyes he hadn't seen in years.

"I love you Lelouch, don't die," she leaned forward and kissed the young man, forcing her will into the motion she pushed forth all her dreams, all her desires, all her hopes, and when her brother broke the kiss she knew she had been right in placing her trust in him.

"I love you too Nunnally, and I will protect you with my last dying breath, now please go, I have a battle to win." Turning away from his little sister Lelouch felt his resolve harden, for his girlfriend, for his sister, for the family he had built himself, he would be victorious.

Leaving the raucous noise of the bus boarding behind Lelouch approached the hanger holding his mothers Knightmare with a small smirk taking over his face; most assumed he was a cold and cultured man who would never dirty his hands with fighting. More the fools were they, he'd been practicing in Knightmare sims since before his exile and was actually rather looking forward to this.

Entering his passcode Lelouch stepped into the dark hanger and immediately noticed the lack of dust, obviously Ruben had been keeping up with the house cleaning along with the maintenance, if they survived the day he'd give the old man a bonus on top of his tuition.

Climbing into the Ganymede Lelouch began the boot up process, when all lights came back green he snatched the pair of automatic rifles off the ground and spun them in the frames thick fingers. Idly wondering where the old man had gotten such toys the exiled Prince shrugged the thought off; it was time to protect those he loved, and show the world what the son of Marianne the Flash could do.


	2. Chapter 2

**Despite being exhausted I woke up at 2 am and couldn't fall back to sleep, so here you are, an update. Please review.**

* * *

As Lelouch slammed his now empty left hand rifle into the open fact sphere of the home brew Glasgow before him he was struck by a rather random thought. He'd recently read a paper published by the Psych Department of the University of Pendragon stating that victims of sexual assault, on one level or another, actually _wanted_ the attention otherwise they wouldn't have put themselves in that sort of situation to begin with.

It was typical Britannian tripe, vilifying the victims while making the perpetrators out to be something better than scum. That being said, as shards of splintered metal cut across his skin, and sparks burnt holes into his uniform, Lelouch had to admit that if he didn't want Knightmares trying to kill him, he probably shouldn't be in one to begin with.

The paper was still bull shite regardless.

Releasing the destroyed weapon as the Glasgow fell backwards Lelouch extended the Ganymedes folding knife and stabbed it into the enemy units drive, ending the threat without killing the likely frustrated pilot. Wiping blood from his brow and wishing more then ever his mother's old stead didn't have an exposed open air cockpit the Prince in exile pilfered the downed Glasgow's rifle while quickly waving on the waiting Ashford bus.

This had been his fifth Knightmare sortie, and while the Ganymede was significantly faster and lighter then the seemingly kitbashed Glasgows it was facing off against, it was being worn down bit by bit. Thankfully, almost everything he'd run into while defending his friends and family had been resistance operated rather than Chinese military.

A one on one fight with a frame that was about on par with his? He could handle it. Facing off against a twenty unit squad of inferior Knightmares? Not a chance, quantity after all had a quality all of its own. It didn't really matter if the Gun-Ru was laughable at best, they had a lot of them and they each had a lot of guns.

Scanning the area he took a look at his rear view monitor and snorted to himself as the emergency escape hatch atop the bus snapped off and flew away from the vehicle to shatter on the highway as Sayoko popped out of the exposed egress. Hefting up a massive European made missile launcher she fired towards Lelouch who, rather then panicking, returned his gaze to the road ahead.

The Gun-Ru that had rolled out into the intersection a second earlier took the heavy anti-armor projectile directly to one of it's legs sending the frog like war machine to the ground. Not hesitating he sprayed the injured machine with a few bursts of 20 mm fire while spinning Ganymede on its axis to give the bus a brief salute before returning to the task at hand.

That woman was getting a bloody raise, and he wasn't going to take no for an answer.

As the Viceroy Palace finally came into view Lelouch couldn't help grinning, they'd actually made it! He should have known better then to jinx their so far good luck.

It would seem the Gun-Ru was not in fact alone, which he should have guessed considering its cannon fodder nature, he'd later blame his lack of attention to detail on the adrenaline. Regardless six units pealed out of cover and began firing on the Knightmare and it's charge, to his horror a round struck the back of the bus sending it into a spin.

As the burning vehicle crashed into a parked car Lelouch saw red, rather then panicking rage took hold, bouncing his stead through saturated fire he stabbed his units folding knife through the closest frames cockpit while spraying another two with anti-armor grenades and 20 mm armor-piercing rounds shredding them in seconds.

Lelouch gasped as the remaining three Gun-Ru's opened fire on him and the Ganymede's extended right arm and rifle exploded showering him with burning metal and smoldering smoke. Coughing as his lungs burned Lelouch swept blood away from his now swollen left eye as he retracted the Ganymede's remaining arm snapping off its blade in the process. Bringing his last weapon to bear Lelouch sent forth a spray of return fire as he took cover behind the Gun-Ru he'd just killed.

He let out a rasping laugh as he shrugged and sighed, well he had tried, more than others could ever say at the very least.

There was suddenly a scratching noise over the 'Guards' open channel that soon began broadcasting an all too familiar voice, and his world froze.

"This is Princess Nunnally vi Britannia of the Royal Family, I am currently pinned down outside the Viceroy Palace of the Tokyo settlement by Chinese military units while my brother, the Prince Lelouch vi Britannia is desperately fighting to protect us. Authorization code VB-12100508-RED12, authentication ZB4, 'Bad Moon Rising." The Chinese units froze at this, obviously they wanted to take the Royal Family members hostage, but did not really know what to do with the information.

Unfortunately for them, Lelouch was a faster thinker.

Pealing out of cover He fired all three of his anti-armor grenades at the foremost unit, the first shot missed, the others did not. As it exploded he sprayed the unit on the right with automatic fire shredding its lightly armored body apart, approaching the lone survivor Lelouch threw the now empty rifle at it screaming in rage.

The panicking pilot blind fired and as the fates would have it missed the suicidal charge as his aim was knocked off target by the Knightmare weapon shattering across his units hull. Lelouch, only having one real option left to him tackled the unit to the ground and began punching it repeatedly. Alarms screaming around him as the heavily damaged arm began warping under the stress yet he dare not stop until the limb literally tore itself free, stuck inside the dead unit before him.

Shakily bringing Ganymede to its feet he brought it to a slow stumble to the bus just as a squad of Sutherlands led by a white and gold unit approached from the direction of the Palace. As they surrounded the injured Prince and the stranded students Lelouch covered the broken bus as best he could, knowing full well he could no longer fight.

"Authenticate your identity," The voice sounded familiar but Lelouch couldn't place it, the accent was Britannian and had a slight tinge of arrogance to it but he pushed that aside to reply.

"Authorization code VB-04091031-GREEN13, Authentication code B34 'Don't Fear the Reaper'," as he finished the surrounding Sutherlands lowered their rifles as the white and gold unit took a knee. Cockpit hatch opening a tall regal looking man with turquoise hair stood proud, tears spilling from his eyes.

"My Prince, it is my honor to return you to the fold, Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald, reporting for duty, your Highness."


	3. Chapter 3

**Hmm...have a few ideas to put out there, still haven't decided on the whole cast but I do have plans for the plot in total. Also if you're curious what the outfit Clovis chooses for Lelouch looks like, it's basically Julius Kingsley's (AKA Geass'd Lelouch) from Akito the Exiled...sans the _fabulous_ eyepatch.**

* * *

Prince Clovis la Britannia was frankly one straw away from a complete and total nervous breakdown and he had no idea what to do about it. Everything had gone to Hell after the Shinjuku disaster; the Code R test subject had escaped, his best pilots were made a joke of by a junker Glasgow, and _someone_ had leaked footage of the systematic slaughter of the Eleven denizens of the ghetto on the internet.

Clovis had barely managed to finally tamp down the media end of that fiasco just before the Prime Minister's surprise visit, a stroke of luck there at least. While Schneizel would have undoubtedly asked questions Clovis was fairly certain he would have been able to deflect most inquiries away and move on as if nothing had happened.

Unfortunately what would have only been a rather awkward visit with his older brother had quickly devolved into an unmitigated disaster when the remnants of the former Japanese government launched a massive surprise invasion with the help of the _Chinese_ of all people.

As of yesterday they had completely taken over Kyushu and managed to damage several outlier bases with long range surgical strikes courtesy of their newly captured Britannian missile batteries. Apparently someone hadn't renewed the launch codes in some time and the Chinese had little trouble cracking the encryptions, Clovis reflected that those responsible would most certainly have to be executed later if they weren't already dead.

Hopefully by his hand, the fools.

To top off the fiasco Schneizel had been injured in one of the missile attacks due to his new toy the Avalon being far too tempting a target for the invaders and their ill-begotten anti-air systems. While the airship had managed to limp away from the danger it meant that Schneizel's brilliant mind was currently unavailable leaving Clovis floundering to try and stave off disaster.

He was just as skeptical of his ability to pull it off as everyone else, unfortunatly.

"Your Highness, we've just picked up an open transmission on the 'Guards' channel, I think you may want to hear this yourself," a tech nervously called out from one of the various terminals lining the Viceroy Palace's command information center.

Sighing Clovis nodded slowly, "This better not be a waste of time, we have enough on our plates as is, go ahead and play the transmission."

What followed made Clovis very nearly choke on air.

 _ ***Bzzt***_ _This is Princess Nunnally vi Britannia of the Royal Family, I am currently pinned down outside the Viceroy Palace of the Tokyo settlement by Chinese military units while my brother, the Prince Lelouch vi Britannia is desperately fighting to protect us. Authorization code VB-12100508-RED12, authentication ZB4, 'Bad Moon Rising._ _ ***Bzzt***_

For a moment Clovis just stared at the speaker mounted in his command chair trying to process this turn of events.

Nunnally and Lelouch were still alive? They'd been hiding in Area Eleven this entire time? Why hadn't they come to him for aid, and _why_ were they hiding?

These questions were important, but not as important as the need to take action. Say what you will about the pampered Prince no one would ever argue the fact that Clovis loved his younger siblings dearly, and he owed it to Lady Marianne to ensure their survival regardless.

Opening a channel to the leader of the Pure-Blood faction Clovis glanced at the monitor just in time to meet the gaze of the equally shocked Margrave, not that he could blame the man. After all both of them had come to Area Eleven all those years ago to find out what had happened to the missing vi Britannia siblings, and had found nothing but dust and echoes for their efforts.

Fate, it would seem, had a rather crass sense of humor.

"Lord Jeremiah...take as many units as you need along with an APC and verify the validity of this transmission... Once confirmed... bring my little brother and sister home..."

Not bothering to supress his grin Jeremiah saluted once while stating, "Gladly your Highness!" before cutting the transmission.

Clovis pressed his fingertips to his temples and rubbed them in rough semi-circles a few moments before coming to a decision. He had not seen Lelouch in over seven years, but even as a boy he had consistently and rather embarrassingly defeated Clovis at games of strategy; he had apparently acquired skills in subterfuge as well if he'd kept himself and his sister hidden this long.

It was a long shot but Clovis would do what it took to survive, and really at this point what did he have to lose? It wasn't like the Prince in hiding could possibly be any worse then Bartley, frankly Clovis was shocked the man hadn't had a stroke yet as bad as things were going.

Besides, nothing gambled, nothing gained.

He would swallow his pride and ask his little brother for advice, anything to stave off complete defeat.

* * *

As Lelouch followed the APC holding his family and classmates through the massive egress gates of the Viceroy Palace he couldn't help shivering at the appraising gazes of the gathered troops. It was quite disconcerting to be stared at in shock and awe, as if being confronted with supposedly murdered royals returning from the dead was the most important thing to worry about in the midst of an invasion.

Goddamn did he hate Britannia.

Steering Ganymede towards the center of the court yard he brought his badly damaged frame to a stop next to the white and gold knightmare piloted by Margrave Jeremiah.

Jeremiah, now hadn't _that_ been a surprise? He had not recognized the man at first but eventually the teary eyed officer had explained he'd been a member of his mother's guard and one of many who had been sent away shortly before her assassination. When recognition had crossed Lelouch's face Jeremiah had quickly explained how he had created the Pure-Blood Faction in an attempt to wash away his failure at protecting the Empress and avenging the 'fallen' Prince and Princess.

Wasted effort there, and if what he heard about the Pure-Bloods was true he _really_ didn't want his name attached to their actions. Lelouch may have been willing to accept being drawn back into the snake pit that was Pendragon if it meant saving Nunnally and Milly, but he had no interest in pretending he gave a damn about any of the nobility's prejudices.

That was neither here nor there though, first course of action was survival and hopefully escape, he'd deal with the messy details later. Bringing his knightmare to a crouch Lelouch wearily pulled himself from the cockpit and had barely managed to touch his feet to the concrete before he was tackled by both Milly and Shirley.

"Lulu are you ok!?"

"DON'T EVER SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN VI BRITANNIA!"

"Big brother are you all right!? Your eye it looks..."

"Master Lelouch, I must say your piloting skills are quite exemplary."

Lelouch let out a resigned sigh as he shuffled his girlfriend and his stalker off to the side to stand back up, turning to Milly first he pulled her back to her feet and did the same for Shirley before responding to the gathered women of his life.

"Yes Shirley I'm fine, I'm sorry Milly it won't happen again unless we're met with more people who wish to kill my little sister and girlfriend. Nunnally I won't lie to you my eye hurts quite badly at the moment, Sayoko...thank you, nice shot with the missile launcher by the way."

Without prompting Rivalz stepped forward to pull the flustered Shirley back to the rest of the group, he'd have to give his man servant...friend... a bonus of some sort later for deflecting that exasperation later on. Milly for her part grabbed Lelouch by the head and pulled him into a searing kiss before breaking it off giving him a saucy wink as she sauntered back to her grandfather who was currently talking to the gathering troops.

Nunnally just rolled her eyes and huffed as Sayoko laughed into her hand, at least _some_ people around here could comport themselves with a bit of dignity.

"I thank you my lord, if I am to continue protecting you and your sister though I request a larger variety of weapons...oh." Taking a step back the Japanese woman bowed once and walked behind Nunnally's wheel chair as their small group was approached by none other then the Viceroy himself, along with Lord Jeremiah.

"Lelouch! It's so good to see that you've survived! And Nunnally too! How are you little sister?" The brunette teen gave Clovis a watery smile and as he leaned down she threw her arms around him sobbing loudly, thus causing Lelouch to wince and Clovis to wrap his arms around her tightly in return.

"Oh it's so good to see you again brother, I can _see_ , literally...I can see again, can you believe it?! Oh Clovis what are we going to do? We're being invaded and...and what is to become of us?" Releasing the chair-bound Princess the blonde man stood and appraised Lelouch a moment before turning back to his little sister smiling widely.

"Why Lelouch and I are going to repel these invaders and keep you safe, isn't that right, brother?" Lelouch quirked an eyebrow at that, not 'little' brother, but brother, an equal...

Smiling in return Lelouch patted Nunnally's clasped hands once as he nodded quickly, "That's right little sister, we'll figure out how to get out of this. Brother, is there anywhere Nunnally and the rest of my friends can relax while we figure things out?"

Clovis nodded quickly as he turned to Jeremiah, "Margrave, while it is a beneath your station would you see to Princess Nunnally and her friend's needs while Lelouch and I catch up?"

Jeremiah gave both Princes a shrewd look before nodding, "It would be an honor, your highness." Giving his farewells to his friends, and receiving a promise of painful castration from Milly if he did anything stupid without her around, Lelouch followed his brother through the palace.

"Soooo..." Lelouch began, Clovis much to his surprise snorted as he waved a white gloved finger languidly towards the sky.

"We are so fucked it isn't even funny." Well...shit.

Trying to keep his stray thoughts in order Lelouch shook his head slightly before turning to his brother to reply. "O...k...where are we going?"

Clovis sighed at that as they entered a large suite, gesturing towards an open bathroom the Viceroy practically pushed his younger brother through the door.

"You're going to take a shower, then we're going to patch up those wounds, then we're going to get you properly attired and then save this bloody Area before the sodding Chinese burn it to the ground." Turning to face his brother Lelouch was about to argue until he saw the firm set to the mans jaw as he huffed and crossed his arms glaring at the younger Prince.

Lelouch was uncomfortably reminded of his terrifying older sister Cornelia a moment before acquiescing. "Fine fine, but we don't have time for fanfare so lets make this quick."

Turning on the faucets Lelouch stripped and stepped into the hot cascade of water sighing as it melted away the grim and blood of the day. As he went about cleaning himself Lelouch yelled out to his brother not wishing to waste any time that could possibly help them.

"So, what are we looking at in terms of field able units in Tokyo?" He thought Clovis was ignoring him before he heard the toilet seat slam shut, glancing around the curtain he watched the blonde man fall on the porcelain throne as he gripped the bridge of his nose.

"We have roughly four hundred knightmares in total counting the Knight Police, somewhere between two hundred and three hundred tanks, roughly five hundred VTOL gunships, and one hundred forty eight Trident air superiority fighters. For sea combat we have around three hundred Portman units as well as one carrier battleship and twelve missile cruisers."

Lelouch hummed to himself as he processed this. It was...a rather sizable force, but if he split it up it would all collapse under the shear weight of numbers that the Chinese could field, so they had to play this smart. Sighing he turned off the water and stuck his arm out of the curtains as his rather bemused brother tossed a towel into his hand.

Drying himself off Lelouch wrapped the towel around his waist and stepped out of the shower as Clovis followed him into the main room that already had a woman in white waiting for him, the look she was giving the injured Prince caused him to gulp audibly. Forced to a sitting position he was made to suffer the indignity of the woman pulling shrapnel from his wounds and stitching them up while she growled in irritation the entire time.

Lelouch had no desire to anger her further and wisely kept quiet despite the indignity of it all.

After he was properly stitched and sanitized the woman handed him a plain black eyepatch while pointing at the vertical scar marring the left side of his face that cut perfectly across his eye.

"Cover that up for the next few weeks, if you want to keep using it that is, outside of that you're good to go, and I better not see you in my infirmary or there will be hell to pay!"

As the woman left the room Lelouch shot Clovis a look that earned him a shrug in turn, "Cornelia's recommendation, I've been too terrified to transfer her elsewhere." Nodding in understanding Lelouch accepted the rather gaudy gold and black clothes offered up by his brother and re-entered the bathroom.

Pulling on the silk boxers and the black slacks he managed to fumble through pulling on the undershirt as well as buttoning the jacket, sodding lack of depth perception! Eventually getting his new outfit in order he took a step back and stared into the mirror in shock.

The gold embroidered black tunic and cape looked both aristocratic and refined while the mantle and cuffs emphasized an undisclosed rank. He was important, obviously, so important in fact you didn't even know who he was.

So bloody Britannian...

His shaggy bangs hung over his eye patched face and the various pockmarks earned in his recent sortie gave him a roguish look, after a moment he let out an exasperated snort as he shook his head.

"I look like I"m either a gay pirate or a rather fabulous warlord..." a moment later the door swung open and Clovis stepped into the room. Turning around Lelouch met his brother's gaze as the blonde grinned widely.

"You look perfect! Come now we have to get to the CIC and turn the tide of this battle!" As Clovis grabbed his brother's hand and dragged him out into the halls Lelouch couldn't help but consider that perhaps he would have been better off holing up at the Academy with Milly and Nunnally letting everyone else fend for themselves.

* * *

 **Picking up steam, thoughts?**


End file.
